The Good News

A News Roundup

Aside from horoscopes, trivia, and jokes, Coffee news is known for being a source of fun, entertaining, and altogether non-depressing stories from around the globe. I thought it would be fun on this random Thursday and take a look at the global news feed and see what similar stories were out there today.

It wasn't easy, as violence, missing airplanes, and scandal are dominating headlines. However, here are a few fun or otherwise uplifting stories floating out on the Wire today:

Motivation

Family fortunes don't tend to last long in the span of generations. When you talk about family money, old money, like the Carnegie fortune, financial and business gurus have shown can completely disappear within 3 generations. Lazy, entitled grandkids have a way of blowing through money at an alarming rate.

Anderson Cooper, I learned this morning, is the son of Gloria Vanderbilt of the famous and insanely wealthy family of Vanderbilts. Turns out that Anderson is set to inherit none of his mother's estimated $200M fortune when she passes.

Fortunately, Mr. Cooper has made his own way in the world and isn't worried about this turn of events. He figures, "Who has inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life? From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would've been so motivated." (Read more at WonderWall).

Blast From the Past

A middle school teacher named Bruce Farrer had his students write 10-page letters every year to their future selves. Each year he tracks down students from decades before to send them their letters. From the article at Today:

"I've always had a sense of history,'' he said. "I kept a diary since I was 11 or 12, and I found that fascinating to me when I became a teacher to see how I thought at that time. I also thought that it would be valuable for people raising children when they get the letters to remember what it's like to be 14 years old. One student said the topics she wrote about as a teenager are the same ones her own 14-year-old daughter talks about when she gets home from school."

Farrer does his best to find every student in order to make sure they get their letter, using Facebook and other means to track them down.

I'm not sure if I'd be entertained or terrified to read a letter I wrote at that age, but it would be interesting nonetheless. Right?

Setting A World Record

A barber in New York shaved 73 heads in one hour to set a new world record with the folks at Guinness.  This wasn't just a stunt to get into the record books, it was for a good cause The record-setting effort was done to help raise awareness for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, which has generated more than $212 million for child cancer research since 2000 by shaving more than 354,000 heads.